Some Malaysians (and supported by human rights activists in Singapore) are kpkb-ing about Singapore wanting to hang a Malaysian Pannir Selvam for drug trafficking.

These people are crying foul and cried all the way to Malaysia’s Putrajaya for their de facto Law Minister to write a letter requesting Singapore Government to lift the death penalty on Pannir Selvam.

He is not the first drug trafficker Singapore hangs and this won’t be the last time Putrajaya make an appeal to let them off the death penalty

Maybe we can understand why the Malaysian Minister wrote the letter. If Singapore Government agrees, he scores points. If Singapore Government doesn’t, he would have shown he fought and this will win a bit of popular support. Whatever the outcome, no loss to him.

But our own Law and Home Affairs Minister Shanmugam is no pushover. Come challenge Singapore’s law with weak arguments and you have to be prepared to be crushed by his facts, reasoning and logic.

Keep writing letters to Singapore Government to spare Malaysian drug traffickers’ lives? Minister Shanmugam: Why not you control the drug problem at your own turf first?

According to media reports, Minister Shanmugam revealed that in 2018, almost 30% of drug traffickers caught here are Malaysians and nearly 30% of the heroin seized here, by weight, was brought in by Malaysians. And one in five traffickers who brought in drugs above the threshold that brings the death penalty also a Malaysian.

“How do we go easy on Malaysians in the face of these statistics? And if we did, what will it mean for the rule of law? It will become a joke if there is a request made and we go easy. That is not the way Singapore works,” said Mr Shanmugam.

You nab them in Malaysia first lah and they don’t have to be subjected to Singapore laws when they kana caught here. Get it?

Some questioned why is Singapore only catching the drug mules and not the syndicate leaders? Hello, they need to be in Singapore first before they can be arrested by us right? If they are too scared to even step foot on Singapore because of our tough drug laws, you want SPF to catch them in Malaysia land? Tak boleh lah.

Some questioned why we still have death penalty. Actually US also still have death penalty, why not challenge the Americans too? Just because some other countries are abolishing it doesn’t mean Singapore must do so. We should not blindly follow without considering our own national interests and security.

And it’s not like Singapore has not reviewed the death penalty for drug offenders. Following a review couple of years back, then-Deputy Prime Minister cum Home Minister Teo Chee Hean said that for drug traffickers, mandatory death penalty should continue to apply in most circumstances. But where two specific, tightly-defined conditions are met, death penalty will now be at the courts’ discretion.

The two conditions are: firstly, the trafficker must have only played the role of courier, and must not have been involved in any other activity related to the supply or distribution of drugs. Secondly, and only after the first requirement is met, either the trafficker has cooperated with the Central Narcotics Bureau in a substantive way, or he has a mental disability which substantially impairs his appreciation of the gravity of the act.

Both requirements have to be met. And eventually, it is up to the courts, not the government, to decide.

So, politicians, lawyers and human rights activists of Malaysia and their supporters from Singapore, please respect Singapore’s laws, respect our judges and respect our judicial system. Pannir Selvam did wrong in Singapore and he should face the music according to Singapore laws. Don’t expect us to bend the law for his mistake.

Like what was said before; if Malaysia customs had done their job at the borders and caught these traffickers first, then they would not have to face the repercussions in Singapore.

Why kpkb just to pander to popular discourse about the death penalty. Go and educate Malaysians about drug trafficking and the Singapore death penalty la.